This house is not going anywhere. I think I’ve said that more than once during this process. As have a few other people who have seen it. Not meaning “not going anywhere” as in not moving forward, but “not going anywhere” as it certainly will not be moving around.

You may remember this cork. It was the one from the bottle of prosecco that I popped at the end of the final closing. Around the table of the lawyer, we shared plastic glasses and a “salute!” to signing the final papers and embarking on this new adventure (officially).

Since reopening the country last month, it’s been a steady forward motion on the site. After the last construction update on here when they’d finished most of the structural columns, and begun part of the cage of the roof, the work continued to race ahead.

Back when the first diggers came to break the land and clear a big hole for the building site we found layers of pure grey Umbrian clay clumped within the clots of old field. It was still pretty muddy…so the clay was just seen as swaths of light grey smeared within the warm tones of freshly dug soil.

Although life seems to be slowly returning, the project is anything but slow. It’s been going full-speed ahead since this past Monday when the restrictions on construction were lifted, and the phrase that keeps getting repeated by us, the architect team, and mostly anyone who have received the updates this week is “cosi veloce!” how fast!

Once again I’ve let the weeks slip by. Somehow these strange new times have warped my sense of time. Plus, to be honest this whole project now has some new emotions attached to it…I’m feeling a bit of disassociation of sorts.

I just looked and it’s been silent on this blog now for 6 weeks. This is almost the amount of time we’ve been on lockdown. Five weeks of strict lockdown but a week or so before this started, there were already partial quarantine measures in place and social distancing rules that had begun.

This past week has been very eventful. Not always in the best of ways, regarding the global health situation and ever-changing news each day which is really affecting us in the travel industry in pretty significant ways already. But alongside this news everyday were also some positive things about the house and life in general.

Things have been moving so quickly this past week (something I’d never really expected to say) that I’m now having to do some catch-up blog posts on the activities.

sta succedendo. (it is happening).

Today, we officially broke ground. I had spent the night in Florence last night after running some errands and enjoying a late birthday celebration with some girlfriends. Then this morning I walked to the architect’s office for the largest face-to-face meeting we’ve had with everyone so far.

I already knew this going into this new decade at New Years, but just a couple of days ago when I crossed into a new decade of my own I really felt that it was going to be true. Sometimes I have a hard time taking it all in, and actually allowing myself to feel this is something I constantly struggle with.

This month is turning out to be much more of an important month than I thought. Not only am I about to celebrate a big milestone birthday crossing over into a brand new decade of life - one where many people find themselves stopping to survey those moments that have brought us this far, dream about the future, and perhaps make a few adjustments for the path ahead - but it’s also the month that this house will officially begin.

ancora.

A very important word in Italian.

“still”

as in, “si, stiamo ancora aspettando”.

“we’re still waiting”.

We just returned from ringing in the new year in South Africa. We had 2 back-to-back retreats over the week of New Year and the following week as well; spending time in the wine country just outside of Cape Town and then on a safari in the Western Cape.

A few weeks ago before leaving for our trip to the US, we met with a couple of contractors who’ve we’ve been recommended in the area. The first was a company in our nearby comune. We stopped by their offices one afternoon to introduce ourselves and explain the basic idea of the project.

Before flying to the US, and after some of the last meetings about details with the architect, when we had a few days back in the countryside, we took a morning to go and meet with one of Europe’s leading vivai (plant nurseries), and one that just happens to be our neighbor.

I thought it was still early in the process for some of the nitty gritty details to be discussed, but now as we’re at the point of getting quotes from contractors, I quickly found myself in a pile of catalogs, sketches, rulers, pencils, erasers, and idea boards.

In this entire process, this house has represented many things to me. One of which is the possibility of creating a space that is just so. With the things I want, and none of the things I don’t. Personalized to my lifestyle, and as cheesy as it may sound, to my hopes, dreams, and visions of the future. 

I've been wanting to talk about this project for a while now. It's not like it was much of a secret or anything, but not too many people really knew about it, and I certainly wasn't making any big announcements up until this point.

Yesterday, after almost exactly two years of considering, dreaming, actively searching, deciding,….and lots and lots of bureaucracy, the final papers were signed.